This section describes approaches that could be employed, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or employed. Hence, unless explicitly specified otherwise, any approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application, and any approaches described in this section are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Digital ceilings enable network devices to be positioned at prescribed locations in a ceiling structure for efficient deployment of network-based services without wasting any “flooring” real estate. Example digital ceilings can be implemented using a grid of power-enabled rails that enable the network devices to be connected at physical Power over Ethernet (PoE) connectors positioned at prescribed segments along the power-enabled rails (e.g., at repeating intervals); digital ceilings also can be implemented using a mesh of Wi-Fi enabled devices installed at prescribed positions of a ceiling.
Digital ceilings also can be implemented using a rail mounted on the ceiling, where the rail can be configured to enclose an electrically-powered robot connected to cables (e.g., data cables or optical fiber cables) within the rail for power and/or control of the electrically-powered robot.